PS4

Harmonix's new Amplitude is being delayed once again, as Kickstarter projects are wont to do.
The PlayStation 4 version will be launching in December for "early access" backers, the studio just announced, with the public rele...

One of my favorite things in Rocket League is when someone tragically knocks the ball into their own goal and immediately leaves out of presumed embarrassment. Replays tell all. But that's in unranked play, where spots aren't...

Making objects disappear and reappear at depending on visibility has been done before, but Hue multiplies that idea by a factor of four. Instead of it being a simple light/dark dichotomy, backgrounds in Hue can be one of eigh...

I was going to get into my usual spiel about earning a subtitle, but Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is actually a sequel to 2009's Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. So 2009's Spider gets a posthumous talking to for colon...

Look, not everyone's a lunatic with some sort of dark pit (un-amiibo) in their basement. Those people probably have a stockpile of severed heads already. The latest Witcher 3 patch is for those who don't possess a bunch ...

Each month, PlayStation Plus members can download and play select games for free across PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. Even the bad months aren't so bad. Soon, we'll have some say in what gets featured. Sony is preparing a new Vote t...

Risen 3: Titan Lords was panned by critics on release after the just above average, piratical Risen 2: Dark Waters, but what else does Deep Silver have to release this year with Dead Island 2 losing its developer?
It's this ...

I'm kind of apathetic towards this new ZombiU re-release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. I remember playing the game for the first time at a preview event, and being generally blown away by the Wii U GamePad's comfort factor wi...

Bungie has released a crapton of new Destiny images, including a selection of concept art designed to bring The Taken King to life.
"Conceptually, we’ve dreamed of facing the Hive on their own ground for a long time," said community manager, DeeJ, on this week's update. "With the development of Destiny: The Taken King, we’ve had the chance to fully realize the Dreadnaught."

Without a doubt, the star of E3 this year was Yarny, the adorable woolen hero of EA's upcoming faux indie release Unravel. He's just so gosh damn adorable, as is his nervously cute creator who we met at E3.
For those of you j...

Bungie is cracking down on Destiny cheats.
"We’re committed to protecting Destiny against cheaters," writes community manager, DeeJ, in this week's update. "We know you want justice. We’ve seen the chatter. W...

They say that going solar-powered is a cheap and efficient use of renewable energy. Solar-powered endless runner Race the Sun is the most cost-effective it'll ever be, but for today only. Like the game, it's over when t...

There's an explanation for nearly all action in the Star Wars universe, but sometimes you don't want to lean on reasoning as an excuse to shoot first. Sometimes you do it because it feels right (and because you want to a...

Has Rocket League infiltrated your dreams yet? Give it time. It'll happen.
Patrick showed us the upcoming Utopia Coliseum, but developer Psyonix has more in store for early August. A free update will add that arena plus Spect...

Early Wii U owners should know all about ZombiU. Depending on who you ask, it was a decent to great zombie survival game and a much-needed one at that. Years later, Ubisoft is bringing it to other platforms -- PC, PlayStatio...

Yooka-Laylee, the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor that did incredibly well on Kickstarter a few months back, is apparently getting published by Team17. Best known for the Worms series, it has also been publishing indie titl...

Sony sold 3 million PlayStation 4 consoles between April and June 2015, with more than 25 million PS4 sales since the console launched in November 2012.
According to the latest Sony financial report, that's up from 2.7m...

Street Fighter producers Yoshinori Ono and Tomoaki Ayano confirmed this weekend during Ani-Com in Hong Kong that Street Fighter V will be receiving a simultaneous worldwide release. This is great news for fighting game player...

We have had our eyes on The Iconoclasts for a while now. It started development in 2010, and we have covered whispers of updates sporadically since then, including a rad mecha-worm boss fight using rail transport last year. G...

I'm thrilled and terrified to dig into N++.
Darren and I have been reminiscing about the cooperative levels in its predecessor, N+, so pain is fresh on my mind. These games are brutal but fair and so satisfying. If you're new...

Yager (Spec Ops: The Line) was recently fired from developing Dead Island 2 by publisher Deep Silver as the companies' "respective visions of the project fell out of alignment."
Last week, July 22, Yager Productions filed for...

Zombie free-running game Dying Light teased vehicles as a part of its DLC plan earlier this month. Indeed, Techland has confirmed that all-terrain dirt buggies are a big part of the, "feature-heavy, story-based expansion pack...

Look, PlayStation Plus' July free downloads gave us -- well, you, I don't have PS+ -- Rocket League. You aren't going to touch Rocket League.
August is a bit slight, though. Maybe it will finally convince people on a wide sca...

Rocket League is taking off like a, well, rocket I guess. The simple complexity seems to really be jiving with a lot of people, and I couldn't be happier. As a big fan of Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, ...

Keiji Inafune and Comcept are really trying to sell Red Ash: The Indelible Legend, Inafune's follow up to Mighty No. 9 and spiritual successor to Mega Man Legends. Its Kickstarter campaign ends in five days and it is hardly m...

It sure feels like summer out there. Upper 90s this week? What're you up to, Pacific Northwest? There's no way I'm staying inside all day; plenty of time for that when the skies turn gray again.
The PlayStation Store summer s...

While New Game+ isn't an option for The Witcher 3 yet, it will be soon. But before you commit to another playthrough, you should know what will and won't transfer. CD Projekt RED has answers.
New Game+ will bump you to level ...

Jul 28 //
Brett Makedonski
Life is Strange: Dark Room (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One[reviewed])Developer: Dontnod EntertainmentPublisher: Square EnixRelease date: July 28, 2015MSRP: $4.99 (Each Episode)
Interestingly enough, Dark Room largely betrays the pacing set forth by the previous three installments. Those chapters had a tendency to meander as Dontnod built the world and its characters. There wasn't anything inherently bad about that. Actually, now that the game's nearing its conclusion, it's paying dividends. We're invested in the story surrounding Arcadia Bay.
Still, Dark Room is always tugging at your sleeves, trying to guide you somewhere. The stakes in this episode have been raised to a degree that doesn't lend itself to killing time. Urgency permeates the entirety of Dark Room. Rushing from one location to another advances the plot as things escalate steadily, and there's not always a chair handy to take a mental breather.
As quickly as things move, a lot of the brilliance behind this episode comes in the form of finally tying together past events and seeing how they cause everything to shake out. There's some resolution, even if it's not full resolution. Dontnod has proven that it expertly laid the framework to affect future encounters. One particular instance comes in the form of another spat with a familiar antagonist. The branching paths can lead to several outcomes, none necessarily more optimal than the next.
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Another prime example is very un-Life is Strange, and maybe the only time Dark Room just sat still for a minute. Max has a board of clues that she must use to put together some damning evidence against someone. Putting on Max's sleuthing hat, the puzzle requires carefully finding related documents and grouping them in a sensible way. Odd as it may have seemed, this section nicely conveyed a sense of inter-connectivity and broke up the episode's breakneck speed.
The rest of Dark Room's high points were the bleakest moments the game has seen, none of which should be discussed here. This episode doubled down on grim material and somber social issues. The absolute best thing Dark Room does is that it still somehow manages to present most of this (and the characters tied to it) from a complex perspective. It's not dealing in blacks and whites -- even though it's completely expected by now, given the nature of the subjects.
The more time spent in Life is Strange, the more obvious it is that this isn't the game we may have originally thought. The supernatural won't overshadow the social issues. The rewind mechanic often doesn't feel like an option because you want to live with your decisions. Somehow, Dontnod resisted the urge to lean on these aspects, even though they'd be the easiest to lean on. The game's immeasurably better off for it.
So, after another cliffhanger ending, we're left awaiting the conclusion and with no real idea where the narrative might go. Dark Room has been the most masterful installment in Life is Strange thus far, and it sets us hurtling toward the finish line. If the first 80 percent is any indication, it probably won't be a "happily ever after" ending. Only one thing's certain, though: that ever-present throat lump will be along for the ride.

Super MaxI played the fourth episode of Life is Strange with a lump in my throat. You know, the sort of uneasiness that puts a slight pressure behind your ears. The lump waned and grew with the chapter's crescendos and decrescend...

Officially, Fallout 4 players will only be able to romance human companions. They'll also have to resort to violence to complete the story; no perfect pacifist runs, from the sound of it.
"You can avoid [killing] a lot," VP o...